Top 5 Worst Cases Decided by the Supreme Court

Posted by admin on Aug 9, 2012 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

The Supreme Court, as the highest court of the land has the final say to a case. Cases decided by a lower court can still be appealed to the Supreme Court to have a reconsideration and a change of verdict. In the history of the law, here are the top 5 worst cases decided by the Supreme Court:

1. The Slaughter-House Cases (1873). The very worst decision ever made by the US Supreme Court. Eviscerated the 14th Amendment only five years after its adoption. It is best known for reading the Privileges or Immunities Clause, which was supposed to be (and could have been) a vehicle for both in corporation and unenumerated rights, out of the Constitution. But it also wrote out the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause, though those two clauses eventually crawled back into existence, to a degree.

2. Katzenbach v. McClung (1964). It was tough to decide which of the various cases reading the Commerce Clause expansively enough to permit Congress to pass any law it desires, thus destroying the basis of the federal government as one of defined and limited powers to include. But McClung seems to be the most expansive in both its result and its holding.

 3. West Coast Hotel v. Parrish (1937). Abdicated the Supreme Court’s responsibility to prevent states from violating “economic” rights. Unlike the Commerce Clause cases, which were weakly limited by Lopez and Morrison, the freedom of contract cases have never recovered from Justice Roberts’ despicable “switch in time.”

4. Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857). The Court almost always does a good thing when it invalidates a law as being unconstitutional. Not here, where Chief Justice Taney overturned the Missouri Compromise with its promise of some limitations on slavery, relying on a ridiculous, convoluted, and racist reading of the Constitution as mandating that all African-Americans forever be treated as property. Chief Justice Hughes was right to call it a “self-inflicted wound,” as it resulted in the stigmatization of the Court’s role in deciding the constitutionality of laws, in particular on substantive due process grounds.

5. Korematsu v. United States (1944). Held that the government could lock thousands of U.S. citizens in concentration camps because of military necessity. Introduced “strict scrutiny,” while demonstrating its patent inadequacy. On the plus side, Jackson’s and Murphy’s dissents are some of the best ever written.

These are just 5 of the worst cases decided in the history of the Supreme Court. There are other worst cases that you can read on this SITE so try checking them out.